MUSI 2007 W12 Electronic Popular Music

The structure and purpose of these slides is similar to the hip hop slides, so please see the note/suggestion at the start of that lecture if you haven’t already.

Audio: Edgard Varèse "Poème Électronique" (1958) Overhead: Columbia-Princeton studio This is a rather late example of early academic electronic music, since the first experiments go back to the 1930s and 1940s. How is electronic technology being used here not only to just produce new sounds, but to push far beyond conventional ideas of what music can and/or should be? What are the underlying motivations behind this kind of musical experimentation? Related to that: what do people mean by "electronic music" anyway? Where was it happening? Who was making it? And how these facts, along with the aesthetic agenda, give early electronic music a particular cultural profile?

DVD: Forbidden Planet (1956) excerpts Electronic music first came into popular culture mostly through film soundtracks. This was especially true of the Theremin, but other electronic instruments and textures were also used. What kinds of movies tended to use electronic music? And why did it seem especially appropriate for these kinds of films and themes? Overhead: Moog modular synthesizer Given the nature of the instruments and techniques, are there other reasons that most early popular culture electronic activity was connected to film studios?

Audio: Frank Zappa “Nasal Retentive Calliope Music” (1968) In what ways does this Zappa piece mirror what we just said about early academic electronic music? What were the aesthetic and cultural points of contact between what Zappa represented in the context of 1960s rock culture, and what early electronic music represented? On the other hand, how did his work represent a whole new set of meanings and possibilities for these kinds of sounds and techniques? Should also be aware of the ways in which The Beatles (and especially Paul McCartney) experimented with early electronic music techniques and ideas. Zappa was just one example of a late-1960s rock artist active in this area. Overhead: Minimoog Model D Discuss importance of instruments like this in spreading electronic music practice further into popular culture.

Audio: Tangerine Dream “Movements of a Visionary” (1974) Overhead: Tangerine Dream Tangerine Dream represents an early 1970s direction which was still seen by most people as a subgenre of rock music. Which rock subgenre name was often applied to this music? What is the connection to psychedelia? What did synthesizers represent? How were they similar to and different from earlier methods of making electronic music? And how did those similarities and difference both influence the range of meanings associated with them, and the practical way in which they could be incorporated into styles like rock and funk? In terms of musical form, which aspects of this would become stereotypical “electronic music” features?

Audio: Kraftwerk “The Robots” (1978) Audio: Gary Numan “Cars” (1979) Overheads: Kraftwerk and Gary Numan (same time frame) How are the images and sounds of this kind of group similar to, and different from, the kinds of associations we made with Tangerine Dream? Increasingly, this kind of electronic music was seen as rock- related but also connected to other genres. Which ones? How is the overall market and cultural position different with this kind of music (especially the Gary Numan)? Audio: Afrika Bambaataa "Planet Rock" (1982) Discuss (again) the increasing overlap between electronic pop, funk, and hip-hop. And how this set the stage for developments in the later 1980s and into the 1990s.

Audio: Depeche Mode “Master and Servant” (1984) Overhead: Depeche Mode (cover of same album) There’s an important new kind of electronic instrument here, discuss what it is and why it’s so significant. What about the sexual politics? Which demographic seems to be represented here that’s usually excluded from rock culture? And what does that have to do with the history of electronic music styles overall? Also, in what way did bands like Depeche Mode add a new dimension to the idea of “art rock” in the 1980s (sociologically and in terms of visual style)?

Audio: Derrick May “Freestyle” (circa 1985 and possibly this is a remix – if you know either of those things for sure please let me know!) What was the subgenre name for this kind of music, and where did this come from? What kind of venue/subculture did it represent? In terms of earlier styles we’ve looked at (both electronic and otherwise), how did this genre of electronic music repeat existing themes? Did it introduce new ones? Mention impact “Strings of Life” had on early U.K. rave circa 1987, and the general stylistic profile of early raves. Why is so much dance music today in one or another “electronic” subgenre?

Audio: The Orb “Perpetual Dawn” (1991) There are two important geographical elements here… Where are The Orb from? What pivotal role did that place (very loosely defined) play in electronic music culture of the late 1980s and early 1990s? There’s another place-oriented style here to be acknowledged – what it is and how does it form a unique and influential parallel stream in electronic music history?

Audio: Crystal Castles “Alice Practice” (2008) Free form and Canadian content: What new things have happened in electronic popular music since the early 1990s and how are these reflected in (or even pioneered by) this duo?